Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-02-28

til they were lost to our sigh-mortality
having become immortality.
Ii els duty done, as ST ks the clay,
Light from its load the sp'r lies;
While heaven and earth combine to say.
How blest the righteous when he dies
WHAT high consolation to you that
in the swelling of Jordan. The Israel
ties were just as thoroughly alive n the
western banks of the Jordan as they had
the Jordan, and our departed
over-not sick, not dead, not exhausted,
not extinguished, not clotted out, but
with healthier respiration and stouter
pulses, and beener eyesight, and better
prospects, crossed over, their sins, their
physical and mental disquiet all left clear
this side, ian eternally FLOWING, impas-
sable obstacle between them and ali hu-
man and satanic pursuit. Crossed over!
On, shake hands of congratulstion with
all the bereaved in the consideration that
our departed Christian friends are safe.
Why WAS there years ago so much Joy
in certain circles in New York when
people heard from their friends VINO were
on board the City OF Brussels: 1t
was thought. that vessel had
gone TO the bottom of the sea-;
and when the friends on this side
hesrd that the steamer had arrived safely
in Liverpool, had we not the right to con-
graduate the people in New York that
their friends had got safely across? And
is it not right this morning that congrat-
ulate you that your departed friends are
safe on the shore Of Heaven? Would you
have them back again? Would you have
those old parents back again? You know
how hard it was sometimes for them to
get their breath in the stifi5d atmosphere
of the summer; would you have them
back in this summer? Didn't they use
their brain long enough? Would you
have your children back again? Would
you have them take the risk of tempta-
tions which throng every human path
way? Would you have them cross the
Jordan three times in addition to cross
ing it already, ana cross it again to greet
you now, and then cross back afterward?
for certainly you would not want to keep
them forever cut of Heaven. If they had
lived forty or fifty years longer, would
they have been safe? Perhaps SO, per.
haps not.
Pause and weep, not for the freed from pain.
But tina. the sign of love wOuli pull them bach
again.
ask the question, and there seems to
come back the answer in heavenly echo
"What, will you never be sick again ?"
Never-sick- " " What! will
you never be tired AGAIN." "Never-
tired-again.r "What! will you never
weep again ?" "Never-weep-again ~
"What, will you never die again ~
ever-die-Ggain." On, We army OF
departed kindred, we hail you from bank
to bank. Wait for US when the Jordan
of death shall part tor us. Come down
and meet US halfway between the will
lowed banks of earth and the palm groves
of heaven.
On Jordan's stormy banks stand,
And cast a wistful eye
To Csnaan's fair and happy land,
Where my possessions lie.
o, the transporting, rapturous scene
That rises on my sig I!
Sweet feel IS array ed in living green,
And rivers of delight.
But there is one step still IN advance
suggested by this subject. If this religion
of Christ is so important in life and so
important in the last hours of life, how
much more important it will be in the
great eternity. | need not stand here and
argue it. There is something within
your souls that says now, while l speak
81 am immortal; the stars shall die, but
am immortal" You feel that your ex-
istence on earth is only small piece OF
your being. Il is only mile up to the
grave, but it is 10, 1000 miles beyond. The
slab of the tomb is only the milestone OF
which we read of infinite distance
yet to be travelled. The world
itself will grow old and die. The stars
of our night will burn down in their sock,
cts and expire. The sun, like a spark
struck from an anvil, will fash and GO
out. The winds will utter their last
whisper, and ocean heave its last groan
but you and will live forever. Gigantic
immortal. Mighty to suffer or enjoy
Mighty to love or hate. Mighty to soal
or to sink. Then, what will be to US the
store, the shop, the office, the applause Of
the world, the scorn of our enemies, the
things that lifted US up, and the things
| that pressed US down? What to John
Wesley are all the mobs that howled sftel
! him? What to Voltaire are all the nations
that applauded himP What to Paul now,
the dungeons that chilled him? What tC
Latimer now, the flames that con
sumed him? All those who
through the grace of Christ reach
that land will never be disturbed
none to dispute their throne, they shall
reign forever and ever. But, alas, for
those who have made no preparation fol
the future! When the sharp-shod hOofs
of eternal disaster come up painting and
swift to 60 over them, how will they con-
tend with horses? And when the waves
of their wretchedness rise up, white and
foamy, under the swooping of eternal
storms, and the pillows become more
wrathful and dash more high, oh, what
will they do "amid the swelling of Jor-
dam"
If could come into your heart this
moment, would see thst many of you,
my dear friends, had vowed to De the
Lords. l know not what sickness it
was, or what trial; but l verify believe
there is not man in the house but has
sometime vowed he would be the Lords.
1t might have been at the time when
your child lay sick, you said, 80 Lord,
if thou wilt let this child ct well, l will
be Christian" Or it might have
been in some business trouble,
when you said, 80 Lord, If
Thou wilt let me keep my property, l